Breathe
by GretaPrewett
Summary: PreHBP oneshot. When written I warned of OOCness, but jealousashell!Harry is canon now, so give it a try. HG of course and mention of RHR.


Harry Potter have had enough. Every night, for about two months now, he would sit on his usual armchair in the common room, and across it opposite him, would sit the two of them. Every bloody night for the last two months, they would sit there snogging each other senseless.

He wanted to hurt him. _Really_ he wanted to. He had never felt this angry about a fellow Gryffindor before. And _she_ . She would always just sit on his lap and kiss him, brushing her hands through his hair. Her beautiful eyes twinkling when she looked at Harry before going to bed after each snogging session with her boyfriend, Dean Thomas.

He tried to remember when he started feeling that way about Ginny, his best friend's baby sister. _It must have come eventually_ , he thought. Three months ago, in August, they were in Grimmauld Place, and she stood by his side for endless hours at a time, when his grief for his godfather overcame him. Maybe it was then that he started liking her, but then came disappointment. In September, in King's Cross. He had seen her hugging Dean, and telling him she missed him. _That's when I first was jealous_ he thought. When he had seen her hugging Dean, he felt being cheated on.

But Dean was her boyfriend, and he, Harry, wasn't.

He then thought about the first Quidditch match, when he was hurt by a Bludger. Blind with pain, as his shoulder bone was broken, he could see only her, crying, sitting on the ground next to him. The only thing he wanted that moment was to tell her he was alright, and that she shouldn't cry. He didn't want to see her cry again. At that time he realized he had fallen for her.

But there she was tonight, as every night before for the past two months, with Dean. Hugging _him _, kissing _him_ . _But does she love_ _him?_ Harry had never heard her say it. He didn't know whether Ginny loved Dean. He hoped she didn't. Because _Harry_ loved her.

The thought echoed in his mind, as he sat watching now the logs burning in the fireplace. He glanced again at where _they_ sat. Dean was holding her, kissing her. He was practically all over her. Harry's blood boiled in his head. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears.

He couldn't stand it anymore. Without thinking, he stood up and crossed the room. He stopped in front of the chair they were sitting.

Dean noticed him, and stopped kissing Ginny trying to sit up right, "What's up, mate?" he asked smiling shyly.

"Get off her," Harry replied in a deadly whisper.

"What?" asked Dean confused.

"GET-OFF-HER," Harry shouted, taking out his wand and pointing it at Dean.

"What the bloody hell is up with you?" Ginny asked, now looking at Harry with an angry expression.

"Come. We need to talk," he replied. He glanced at her momentarily, not lowering his wand, before looking back at a nervous Dean.

"Oh, really? Talk about what, and go where?" demanded Ginny, looking angrier by the minute. Beside her, Dean was fidgeting on his seat looking from Harry to the wand and back again.

"Will you come, or should I hex your _sweety _to oblivion?" he asked in a mock-sweet voice.

"Fine," she said.

Harry lowered his wand, and climbed out of the portrait hole, followed by Ginny. Good thing Hermione and Ron were in detention, or he'd have them on his back. They were caught snogging in the Astronomy Tower, during Prefect rounds by Filch.

As he descended the staircases to the Room of Requirement, Harry's blood still bubbled with anger. He would tell her so he could be done with it. She would laugh, or show sympathy, but at least she would be kind enough not to snog Dean around him. They reached the Room of Requirement, and after passing three times from the place the entrance should be, a door appeared.

Harry opened it, and stepped in a room much like the Gryffindor Common Room. He went by the fireplace, and gazed at the flames trying to think about where to begin, when Ginny spoke.

"Would you mind telling me what was _that_ all about?" she asked, and Harry noticed, turning around to look at her, that her ears were Weasley-red; a sign of danger.

"_That?_ That?" He let out a hollow little laugh. "If I'm not mistaking, _that _was you snogging Dean senseless, in front of all the Gryffindors!" he replied in a cool voice, but he knew he couldn't suppress his anger anymore.

"SO WHAT? I WAS WITH MY _BOYFRIEND _HARRY. I WAS KISSING MY BOYFRIEND. IS THAT A CRIME?" she shouted, facing him, with her fists clenched.

"YES, IT'S A CRIME, GINNY. YOU CAN'T JUST KISS HIM IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. IT'S…IT'S…WRONG!" he answered, walking past her, took out his wand, and started throwing Silencing Charms on the walls.

"WRONG! YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND! ARE YOU TRYING TO BE MY FATHER, HARRY? BECAUSE I HAVE ONE, AND EVEN HE CAN'T TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE," she yelled at him, even louder than before.

Harry went by the fireplace again, "I can't tell you how to live your life, you're right," he said not shouting this time. She was right. She could choose whomever she wanted, but he had to tell her. To ask her not to do it in front of him.

"Why then Harry? Why this? Why are you like this?" she asked in a soft voice.

Harry turned his back on her. If she would laugh, he didn't want to see it. "Can't you understand why?"

"No Harry, I can't," she said impatiently, but with a hint of anxiousness on her voice.

_If she's going to be like this_… "If you can't understand, I won't tell you, " he stated, turning to face her, his anger rising again.

"Fine," she exclaimed, and made to open the door but Harry was quicker. He waved his wand, and murmured '_Colloportus_' .

"Oh, that's rich! You WON'T tell me ANYTHING, BUT PLEASE _DO_ TELL ME WHY YOU LOCKED ME UP IN HERE. IF I'M LOCKED UP, THEN I'LL UNDERSTAND? UNDERSTAND WHAT, HARRY? CAN'T YOU BLOODY SAY IT FOR ONCE?" she shouted, looking angrier than Harry had ever seen her, but her words made him snap.

He walked quickly up to her, cupped her face in his hands, and leaned on her until their noses touched, "Can't you see? Damn it Ginny! Can't you see I can't even breathe without you?" he whispered, looking intensely in her eyes.

But the sparks of stubbornness in them didn't go away, she stayed still. "Say it," she demanded, whispering.

"I want to be with you, " he replied in a hushed voice still looking in her eyes.

"Say it," she said again, a little louder.

He understood what she meant. She wanted to hear that he loved her. It was probably to be her "revenge" on him, for all the years she had been in love with him and he had ignored her. "I want you…" He insisted on not telling her what she wanted to hear. Maybe she would leave him be.

"Say it, Harry." Her voice was steady now, but her eyes were gleaming with tears.

He knew he'd have to say it, " I love you," he whispered, still looking at her. His eyes follower a single tear down her cheek. He wiped it with his thumb. Noticing the silent moments that passed, Harry's heart sank. She had got what she wanted. She had made him confess.

He made to back away, but before his hands left her face, she stopped him, placing her hands over his, on her cheeks, "Why?" she said, her voice trembling, "why now Harry? Why do you love me now?" Another tear rolled down her cheek.

He wiped it. "There is no why when you're in love, Ginny," he replied sadly. " If you don't feel the same anymore, I understand"

"Harry," her voice broke, and now tears were flowing freely from her eyes. "I…Dean…"

"I understand, Ginny, it's alright." He made to release her once again, but she stopped him.

" Don't you know I love you? I always have, and probably always will, Harry," she said with a sad smile, and his heart fluttered in his chest. " But Dean, he's been so nice to me all this time. I like him, but it's you Harry, it's always been you," she concluded.

Harry's mind reeled; he didn't know what to say or think. She was telling him she loved him but…but what…?

"Tell me what should I do. Please…I- I want…" he pleaded, because he knew she was the one to make a decision, the decision to either make his heart soar or plummet to the ground.

"Kiss me," she whispered, her eyes boring into his.

Running trembling fingers over her cheeks, and temples Harry lowered his head, and before his eyes closed he saw her own fluttering shut. Seconds before touching her lips with his, he felt the whisper of her breath on his mouth. Then their lips touched.

And they felt like they could breathe again.


End file.
